ABC News boss Ben Sherwood will succeed Anne Sweeney as co-chairman of Disney Media Networks — one of the most powerful jobs in media.

The surprise promotion, announced Monday, purportedly shocked even Sherwood, who was on a family vacation at a Disney theme park (where else?) last week when his boss, Disney CEO Bob Iger, called him with the news.

Sherwood, 50, after his success with ABC’s “Good Morning America” — where a recent promotion had viewers sending in their Happy Dance — was pushing to pick up wider responsibilities, The Post reported back in February.

The company’s PR machine pushed back hard and claimed nothing of the kind was afoot.

Sherwood will immediately become co-president of Disney/ABC TV and assume the wider title after Sweeney’s exit on Feb. 1.

Sherwood was the apparent Iger first choice to succeed Sweeney since she notified the Disney boss last June of her retirement plans — a secret they kept between themselves until earlier this month, Iger told Variety.
Sweeney said she is leaving to pursue a career as a TV director, and some feel she will leave prior to February.

Sherwood, a Harvard-educated Dodgers fan, will move immediately to Burbank, Calif., to take over Sweeney’s portfolio, which includes: ABC Network, Disney’s owned and operated stations, 107 global cable channels, ABC’s production studio and other part-owned assets like A&E Television Networks and online video site Hulu.

Sherwood will have his work cut out for him.

The broadcasting assets saw operating income fall 16 percent in the year that ended Sept. 28 on a 2 percent rise in revenue.

Among other issues, Sherwood will have to get up to speed on how Aereo — the service that streams broadcast networks — will affect ABC’s business model.

Sherwood has shown his smarts. He led “GMA” into first place, toppling NBC’s “Today Show” after a two-decade run at the top.

Now his job will be to jump-start the No. 3 network.

“The big question is what do they do with ABC,” said one Hollywood insider, commenting on the appointment Monday.

“The station group might not be as important as it once was,” the insider said. “A lot will come down to what happens with Aereo.”

Through mid-February, C3 ratings for ABC’s primetime schedule — that is, shows viewed live or within three days on a DVR — fell to 1.86, from 2.07, last year.

ABC has struggled without the benefit of sports programming, which attracts a wider, younger audience that is used to market prime-time shows.